Kluber and Encarnacion are poised to collect hefty incentives for prolific Tribe seasons

Corey Kluber seems likely to win the American League Cy Young Award for the second time, which would add $2 million to the right-hander's contract.

If Kluber wins his second Cy Young Award, he'll add $2 million to his five-year contract. Encarnacion will get $150,000 for the Indians reaching 2 million in attendance for the first time in nine years.

Prior to Thursday's afternoon tilt against Minnesota, the Indians' magic number to clinch homefield advantage throughout the American League playoffs is three.

That, and putting together the puzzle that will be the postseason roster, are about all the drama that's left for the Tribe in the next week.

Kluber's five-year, $38.5 million contract (which we broke down here) includes incentives for top-10 finishes in the AL Cy Young race.

Kluber is going to be 3-for-3 in cashing in on the bonus since signing his new deal in April 2015. That year, he earned another $500,000 for finishing ninth. In 2016, his doubled the bonus, bringing in $1 million for a third-place finish.

This season, the worst he'll do is add another $1 million to his deal, since he is guaranteed that amount for a second- or third-place showing in the Cy Young voting. But if he wins the award for a second time in four years, he'll get $2 million.

And the Tribe right-hander has to be considered a decent favorite over Boston's Chris Sale in what has been a two-horse race for quite a while.

With one start remaining for both (if Sale starts as scheduled on Sunday), the race breaks down as follows:

Sale has the edge in Fangraphs' WAR rankings (7.7 to 7.1), but Kluber has a big advantage in Baseball-Reference's WAR formula (8.0 to 5.9).

Should Kluber win the award, as we expect, that would increase his three-year Cy Young bonus total to $3.5 million, meaning his five-year deal would be valued at $42 million, with two more seasons left to add to that figure via the incentive.

That's still a bargain for one of the two or three best pitchers in the game, but it's nice to see the Klubot rewarded for his remarkable consistency.

Encarnacion's three-year contract is worth $18 million more than that ($60 million), but the lift the signing produced at the box office, combined with the designated hitter's consistent mashing (38 homers, 104 RBI, 95 runs, 103 walks and an .891 OPS), means the Indians would do that deal again 100 times out of 100.

The contract also includes attendance bonuses that max out at $1 million each year. Encarnacion gets $150,000 each for the Tribe reaching 2 million, 2.15 million, 2.3 million, 2.5 million and 2.75 million at the gate, and another $250,000 for 3 million — a milestone the franchise hasn't achieved since 2001.

Entering the final four home games of the year, the Indians have a total attendance of 1,936,136. They've already reached 2 million tickets sold for the first time since 2008, which means Encarnacion is guaranteed at least $150,000.

We'd estimate that the last four games will draw a total attendance of at least 100,000 (Saturday's game is already sold out). Our (somewhat intelligent) guess: a four-day total in the range of 110,000, to bring the total attendance a few thousand shy of 2.05 million.

Thus, Encarnacion will only cash in once on the attendance bonuses, increasing his 2017 earnings to $18.15 million — a $13 million salary, $5 million signing bonus and $150,000 attendance bonus.

The attendance bonuses should get more significant for Encarnacion next season, though, since the Indians' season-ticket base could beat the 2017 total (12,300 full-season equivalents) by a couple thousand. Such a leap, barring an on-field collapse, would all but guarantee that the Indians will top 2 million again, and could get them to the 2.15 figure Encarnacion would need for a $300,000 bonus ($150,000 each for 2 million and 2.15 million).

The incentives are a clever way for the Indians to extend — and in the case of Encarnacion, lure — stars, without handing out deals they'll later regret.

And when the players reach them, good things are obviously happening.

There are also few bonuses a club would rather pay than one that coincides with the franchise reaching an attendance milestone.

Friday is notable for Tribe, Cavs

• Single-game tickets for the AL Division Series at Progressive Field go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. on Indians.com.

If you're not a season-ticket holder and if you're unable to score a seat after the limited single-game inventory runs out, we want to make a friendly reminder: If you purchase a playoff ticket on a secondary market other than StubHub, the Indians say your tickets could be revoked or its bar codes could be canceled.

For more on the reasoning behind that, check out this post from last week.

• The Cavs have unveiled three of their four new uniform combinations for 2017-18. We got looks at the Association (white) and Icon (wine) editions in early August, and the black Statement uniforms were introduced Sept. 15.

We've been told the final set will NOT be blue, orange or gold, so our educated guess is some type of gray. That version won't be unveiled until after the season starts, however.

But the first three sets, complete with the Goodyear Wingfoot and the Nike swoosh logos, will be available for purchase beginning Friday at the Cavs' team shop at Quicken Loans Arena, and at the club's online store.

And if you're a bargain shopper who doesn't mind having an outdated look, the team's old uniform combinations have been heavily discounted.